


First Day Of My Life

by Exterminatorviolence



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: I wrote this in like an hour, M/M, Song fic, TW for mentions of suicide, Weddings, it's mostly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 20:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3423959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exterminatorviolence/pseuds/Exterminatorviolence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray nods, then asks, "What about now? Are you happy now?"</p><p>"I, I don't think I'll ever be fully happy...But I'm pretty close to it after meeting you."</p><p>The color that floods Ray's cheeks is beautiful, as is the embarrassed smile that plays around his lips.</p><p>Ray licks his lips and swallows before saying, "So, uh, don't think I'm like some weirdo or anything, but, uh, like, I think you shine like the sun?" He trails the compliment off into a question.</p><p>Joel doesn't miss a beat. "I think you glow like the moon." And the smile that Ray sends him could've put the night sky to shame.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day Of My Life

**Author's Note:**

> Unrealistic love at first sight fic! Hooray! Unedited! Less yay!
> 
> Based off the song "First Day Of My Life" by, you guessed it, Bright Eyes

To put it bluntly, Joel’s very, very hungover. He’s kneeling over his toilet, emptying his stomach of the nights previous alcohol trying to remember why he was stupid enough to get smashed while he's here.

Here as in his grandparents house, down in Florida because apparently, a nineteen year old who has minor drinking problems and a tendency to be a tad self destructive has to be sent to some hot, sweaty place that they hate.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door which he promptly ignores. He dry heaves into the toilet again before laying his head onto the toilet seat, the coolness of it calming his face.

“Joel, sweetie,” His grandmother says through the door. “Breakfast is ready. So just come down when you’re ready I guess.” He hears her footsteps fade away and he groans before flushing the toilet. He rinses his face with cold water and stares at himself in the mirror.

His face is pale and he can see his bandaged wrists in the reflection. He can almost hear the beeping heart monitor along with his crying mother. He swallows the sudden lump in his throat

Florida. He’s in Florida. A hot, sweaty, humid place where his grandparents think fun is sitting on the beach for hours on end. He’s surprised that they didn't realize half of their alcohol stash went missing last night around two in the morning.

He sighs, loud and long, and leaves the bathroom, staggering into his room to put on clean clothes. He hates it here, he really does. More so of the fact that he will kill himself of boredom before the summer's over.

"Joel, nice you could join us." His grandmother says, smiling. He winces slightly at her loud voice, or is he just that hungover, before slumping in his chair.

He pushes around his food for a few minutes before taking a bite of his toast. His stomach recoils when he swallows, but he forces the whole slice down without complaint.

"Me and your grandfather are going to head into the town later to do some shopping. Are you going to do anything?"

"Uh, I mean. I guess?" He winds up saying, rather lamely.

His grandfather looks at him from over his newspaper. "You should go down to the beach. It's summer, maybe you'll find a nice girl,"

"No, actually, uh --"

"Or a nice boy," His grandmother interrupts. "There's not judgement in this house...Is there, Paul?" She narrows her eyes at her husband.

"No, no judgement at all."

His grandmother pats Joel's hand reassuringly.

They sit in silence for another several minutes before his grandfather gets up to get the car out of their garage. Joel stays seated and silent as he says a gruff goodbye before leaving out the door.

His grandmother slips on her shoes before setting a pair of sunglasses on the table in front him.

"You might want these. Hangovers can be such a bitch. Have fun, sweetie." She kisses him on his cheek and laughs as his stunned face, before she too, leaves.

Joel doesn't move for a solid five minutes and when he does, he puts the sunglasses on and sighs in relief, the blinding light being toned down. He's not sure if he's factually going to go down to the beach, but he feels like he owes his grandmother for not outing him on drinking. So, with a hefty sigh, he gets up and heads for the door.

\-----

By the time he actually gets to the beach, it's only slightly raining and he's not feeling quite as horrible as before.

In fact, in some weird, philosophical way that Joel will ponder over later for hours, he almost feels reborn. Like, he weirdly baptized himself last night by getting hammered and then sobering up into a new life.

He steps out of the car and into the rain, the drops only feeling like more confirmation of his newly baptized self. And maybe it's stupid that he still decided to go to the beach while it's raining, but hey, he feels reborn, not wiser.

It's not raining enough to where he'd need an umbrella, and surprisingly there's still some families at the beach; parents spreading blankets out in the sand while kids splash in the water or build sand castles together.

He smiles to himself slightly before turning around and almost smacking right into someone.

"Oh, oh my, I'm so sorry," The other guy starts, laughing a little nervously. He's looking down at his shoes and straightening out his shirt.

Joel's hands are on his shoulders, steadying him. "No, it's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going,"

The kid bends down and picks something up, his glasses Joel realizes, as he puts them back on his face. He finally looks up at Joel, smiling shyly, and Joel feels like his heart was just punched out of him.

"Hey, are you new here? It's just, it's kind of a small town and I probably would've remembered meeting you before," He sticks his hand out. "I'm Ray,"

Joel takes his hand. "Joel."

Ray smiles, wide and warm. "Well, Joel, I could show you around town? You don't mind that it's raining do you?"

"Oh, uh, no, I like rain a lot actually. And uh, I'd love for you to show me around." Joel tries to smile back, but his whole face feels numb and he isn't quite sure why.

"Me too. Rain is so...Cleansing." Ray sighs dreamily and takes Joel's hand again, interlocking their fingers as he leads the way. "So what're you doing here if you don't mind me asking?"

And Joel totally hears the question the first time Ray asks, and no, he's not reeling over the fact that Ray just grabbed his hand like it's nothing and just started walking around.

"Uh, well, I was sent down to see my grandparents. My parents didn't know how to handle a nineteen year old's 'self destructiveness'," He shrugs.

"Do you like it here so far?"

"Well it's hot and sweaty and I emptied out half of my grandparents' liquor stash last night," He gives Ray a smirk. "It's not too bad, though. You're actually the first face that I've seen that wasn't my family's."

Ray laughs and it sounds like twinkling stars. "Well I'm so happy the first face you saw was my handsome one."

"And so humble," Joel jokes.

"I know, I'm just the perfect package." Ray squeezes Joel's hand just on the side of too hard, causing Joel to wince. "Oh, I'm sorry, di -- hey, what's on your wrist?" The playful tone in his voice quickly turns to concern.

Joel pulls his hand back, and self consciously starts to rub his wrists. "Oh, my wrist? Just the reason I'm down here to begin with."

Ray's face morphs to one of apologetic. "I'm so sorry, oh my god, I probably made you feel so fucking awkward,".

Joel waves his rambling off. "Nah, it's fine, really. They're healing over, so it's okay."

His face is still concerned, but he tentatively grips Joel's hand, once again interlacing their fingers. A couple of minutes of peaceful silence goes by. Ray's the brave one to break it.

"So uh, were you happy? When you woke up, I mean,"

Joel thinks about the question for a minute. "Not, not at first," He answers carefully. "I, uh, was pretty pissed off at first actually. But then, after a few days, I realized how fucking stupid I was. I was drunk and feeling melodramatic and I scared the shit out of my parents," He licks his lips. "I don't think I could ever put them through that again."

Ray nods, then asks, "What about now? Are you happy now?"

"I, I don't think I'll ever be fully happy...But I'm pretty close to it after meeting you."

The color that floods Ray's cheeks is beautiful, as is the embarrassed smile that plays around his lips.

Ray licks his lips and swallows before saying, "So, uh, don't think I'm like some weirdo or anything, but, uh, like, I think you shine like the sun?" He trails the compliment off into a question.

Joel doesn't miss a beat. "I think you glow like the moon."  And the smile that Ray sends him could've put the night sky to shame. "And uh, I should probably say that I'm really bad at this kind of stuff, I've had commitment issues before and as you saw, I can get pretty self destructive and like--" he cuts himself off. "What I'm trying to say is that these things for me take forever to fully grow and blossom into something."

Ray turns to look at Joel. "Well then, I guess you're lucky I'm humble and patient."

\-----

**Eight years later**

Joel isn't sure if he's more surprised or if his parents are more surprised that he's getting actually married. To Ray nonetheless. He's positive that his parents thought the relationship was gonna crash and burn like all his previous ones had, but here he is, standing in a room, almost puking from nerves.

"Heyyy, buddy," Geoff comes into the room, smiling "How you doing?"

Joel smiles and takes a nervous breath. "I'm so fucking nervous. Why am I so nervous? I know I love him, this is great, so why am I freaking out?"

Geoff chuckles and goes to stand next to Joel in front of the mirror. "Everyone's nervous on their wedding day. It's like, a rule, somewhere. What I know is that Ray is a great guy and you're a great guy and I the last time you were this happy was when you bought your gold stocks."

Joel laughs at the memory. "I'd give up all the gold for Ray."

"This is how I know you love him. Now c'mon, you're about to get married."

\-----

The wedding goes off without a hitch. There are lots of tears, and laughs, and Gus only messes up the ceremony once (though Joel swears it was on purpose).

The reception is equally as beautiful; Roses on every table, and people are smiling and dancing, and Joel doesn't think he's ever been happier.

"Hey, dude,"

Joel's snapped out of his daze by one of Ray's friend. "Hey, Michael. You enjoying the wedding?"

"Yeah, totally, and Gavin's gone crazy with the open bar, so thank for that by the way. But uh, isn't this like the time when the groom makes a speech to the br -- er, other groom?" He nods his head to Ray who's dancing with a slightly drunk Geoff.

Joel nods his head at Michael who grins and stands, pulling the older man up with him. He picks up his champagne flute and starts clinking his fork against it.

Soon everyone's looking up at them, smiles pasted on their face. Ray moves back to the "Happy Couple Table" as Gavin's dubbed it and is also looking up at his husband with a smile.

"Okay, so, uh, when I first met you I was very hungover, and sent down to the beach to uh, meet the locals. Your’s was the first face that I saw and it was raining, and already I thought you were the most beautiful person I had ever laid eyes on. We spent hours talking; from video games to our issues. And I remember telling you that I was super slow at relationships and you answered that you were patient.

"There were complications at first after I had gone back to Texas, and i was worried our time in Florida was going to be a summer love thing. But, a month later, you showed up at my door claiming you'd driven all night just to see my face in the morning.

"And I mean, look at us now, eight years later and you’re still not sick of me. And, I know that I, uh, get nervous about the future, and I’ve kept you up at night with those worries, but now I think that I could go anywhere with you and I’d be happy.” He has tears in his eyes, as do most of the other guests listening, but he still has one more thing to say.

“I love you, and I’m just... I’m just so glad I didn't die before I met you.”

There’s applause around Joel, but his eyes are trained on Ray who’s smiling that smile that could rival the moon’s.

Ray’s still smiling when he stands up to pull Joel into a kiss. The applause around them grows louder and Joel swears he hears Geoff catcall them, but it doesn't matter really, not when Joel has the love of his life in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Comments and kudos make my world go round.   
> Follow me on tumblr! exterminatorviolence.tumblr.com


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